Thursday, May 31, 2007
Hate crime arrest for anti-ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖ publication
You'd think something as Orwellian as this could only happen in a place like Canada, with its legacy of monarchial rule, but this month, in the "Land of Lincoln," our Bill of Rights was shredded by the Illinois state's attorney and a circuit judge, leaving a 16-year-old girl in leg-chains -- for publishing a flier critical of ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖs!
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Teen sent home in hate-flier incident
Student will be strictly monitored
By Carolyn Starks
Chicago Tribune | May 30, 2007
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northwest/chi-hatecrime_30may30,1,7640443.storyA teenage girl charged with a felony hate crime for making fliers with derogatory statements about ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖity and distributing them at a Crystal Lake high school was released from a juvenile detention center Wednesday but will remain strictly monitored.
The 16-year-old student, whose ankles were shackled in court, cried after McHenry County Circuit Judge Michael Chmiel said she could return home to her mother, who sat beside her during the juvenile court hearing. "I want phone calls and Internet usage fully monitored," Chmiel said. "Everything and anything your mom tells you to do, you have to do."
Chmiel told the girl not to have any contact with Crystal Lake South High School, which suspended her after the incident. She also was ordered to get counseling and to attend a drug- and alcohol-assessment program.
The girl and another 16-year-old female student were arrested by Crystal Lake police about 1:45 p.m. May 11 after they distributed about 40 fliers in the high school's student parking lot.
The fliers had a photograph of two males kissing and included inflammatory words, authorities said. Both males attend the school and one of them was identified in the photo. One of the alleged victims was in court with his mother. Both declined to comment.
The girls were charged with a hate crime because the fliers were meant "to incite a breach of peace or cause injury to the person or persons the message was directed against." said Thomas Carroll, McHenry County first assistant state's attorney.
The girl released to her mother on Wednesday was held in a juvenile detention facility after her arrest because the judge was concerned about nearly a dozen run-ins with police and an unstable home life.
However, prosecutors agreed she could return home with strict monitoring.
Chmiel asked the mother if she agreed to help control her daughter, who was ordered to wear a monitoring device on her ankle while at home. "We will not be having anyone to our house," the mother told the judge. "No friends will be over. I will make sure [she] stays in the house and restrict her phone calls and that type of thing."
If convicted, penalties could range from probation to a 30-day sentence in the Kane County Juvenile Detention Facility.
The girl's attorney, Matthew Haiduk, said he plans to seek dismissal of the charges because her written words "are protected speech under the 1st Amendment."
"I don't think there was any risk of harm ... or a threat of harm," he added.
Assistant State's Atty. Robert Windon said "we do not feel this type of behavior is what the 1st Amendment protects."
Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said that without seeing the flier, it is difficult to know whether it was threatening. "It is clear to us the school has a right to punish a student for distributing fliers on school grounds absent any permission to do so ... but that wasn't the tool that was used here," Yohnka said. "Instead there was this immediate jump to a criminal charge. ... One hopes there would be other ways to deal with these things on campus other than the inclusion of a police officer."
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Topic: So much for Free Speach (Read 457 times)